Shiftable road path limiting stake



y 1969 J. HAUSEGGER 3,442,187

SHIFTABLE ROAD PATH LIMITING STAKE Filed Aug. 1, 1966 INVENTOR ATTORNEYUnited States Patent Ofice 3,442,187 Patented May 6, 1969 3,442,187SHIFTABLE ROAD PATH LIMITING STAKE Josef Hausegger, 8563 Ligist Nr. 63,Styria, Austria Filed Aug. 1, 1966, Ser. No. 569,444 Claims priority,application Austria, Aug. 12, 1965, A 7,435/65 Int. Cl. E011? 9/00 US.CI. 94-15 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present inventionrelates to a shiftable road path limiting stake, which erects itselfagain automatically upon being pushed down and which comprises a basepart anchored in the ground and an upper part mounted on the latter,which both parts consist of tubular members closed at least at one endand which parts are connected by means of a bendable pulling memberpenetrating bores provided on adjacent bearing faces between the twomembers by means of an intermediate spring serving the purpose ofproviding the return into the original position.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a shiftable roadpath limiting stake, which comprises very few simple parts, and whicherects itself in contrast to known similar stakes, upon being bent overby means of a vehicle such, that it assumes always again its originalposition.

This is important because in conventional manner such stakes areequipped at one side with white flasher eyes or similar reflectors andwith red flasher eyes or the like reflectors, which radiate at about anangle of 150, which reflectors, in order to perform their function, mustbe aligned exactly in accordance with the two roadways. If the upperpart does not assume any more the correct position, after pushing overand erecting again the upper part, the reflectors are also no morealigned in the required manner.

With this and other objects in view which will become apparent in thefollowing detailed description, the present invention will be clearlyunderstood in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which theonly figure discloses an axial section of the shiftable road pathlimiting stake.

Referring now to the drawing, a road path limiting stake is disclosed,which has preferably triangular crosssection and which comprises atubular upper part 1, made preferably out of synthetic material, and asimilar base part 2. The latter, which projects only slightly above thelevel of the ground surface, is slid with its lower end over aprojection of a concrete base 10, and is secured on the latter by meansof a bolt 11. Furthermore, the base part 2 is closed up at its upper endand the upper part 1 at its lower end by means of caps 3 and 4, theplane faces of which disposed on the outer side engage each other andare rounded off at the edges for the purpose of forming rolling faces.The caps 3 and 4 are preferably identically formed, each equipped withtwo bores each 13 and 14, respectively, spaced apart from each other,and on the sides remote from the bearing face with rounded projections 5disposed between the bores 13 and 14, respectively, which projection 5have guide channels 5 extending between the bores.

A helical pressure spring 6 is mounted about the projection 5 within theupper part 1, which carries at its upper end a peripherally flangeddish-shaped plate 8. The leg portions 7 of a steel cable 7 are insertedinto the aligned two bores and secured to the plate 8. A closed end 7 ofthe steel cable 7 extends continuously between the leg portions 7holding the lower closing cap 3 to the upper closing cap 4. ThisU-shaped formed cable 7 projects through the two bores 13 and 14 of theclosing caps 3 and 4 and the closed end 7" is inserted guidingly intothe channel 5' of the projection 5 of the lower closing cap 3. The upperend of the upper part 1 is closed up by means of a closure cap 12. Thespring 6 is positioned around the parallel leg portions 7' of the steelcable 7, pressing at its lower end against the interior of the closingcap 4 and at its other end against the plate 8, being positioned withinthe peripherally flanged portion thereof.

The steel cable 7 is preferably galvanized or covered by syntheticmaterial, in order to bring about a consistency against corrosion.Furthermore, the concrete base 10 is equipped with a central bore. A rod11, projecting cross-wise, connects releasably the base part 2 with theconcrete base 10.

If the road path limiting stake is removed from the concrete base 10, asnow rod can be inserted into the bore of the concrete base 10.

If the road path limiting stake is bent over in a directionperpendicular to the plane, in which the steel cable 7 is disposed, thespring 6 will be compressed, without causing thereby a displacement ofthe steel cable 7. If, on the other hand, the road path limiting stakeis bent over in a direction, disposed in the mentioned plane, the steelcable 7 slides along the channel 5', whereby also in this case the sameforce is exerted on both sides of the securing of the steel cable 7 uponthe spring 6. The latter is thus charged equally, whereby it is alsofully effective during the erecting of the upper part 1. If furthermorethe upper part 1 is rotated during bending over about its longitudinalaxis and if, thereby, the two parts of the steel cable are wound, thespring 6 has the tendency to assume its greatest possible elongationduring the erection of the upper part 1, whereby it turns back the upperpart 1 again into its original correct position. It should be emphasizedthat due to the identical formation of the upper closing caps 3 and 4 ofthe base part 2 and the upper part 1, respectively, a simple manufactureof the road path limiting stakes can be obtained. Furthermore it shouldbe stated that the bores 13 and 14 are widened towards the bearingfaces, in order to prevent a buckling and damage of the steel cable 7.

The two bores in each of the closing caps and the cable 7 and spring 6connected thereto cause the perfect realignment of the stake. The cable7 and a spring-like means, e.g., spring 6 herein are defined together asa unit to be a resilient means. The spring-like means is any meansacting to exert a restoring force upon compression or expansion.

While I have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, it is tobe understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in alimiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined bythe objects and the claims.

I claim:

1. A shiftable road path limiting stake, comprising a base part adaptedto :be anchored in the ground,

an upper part tiltably disposed on top of said base part,

both said base part and said upper part comprising tubes,

a first closing cap disposed at the upper end of said base part,

a second closing cap disposed at the lower end of said upper part,

both said closing caps having a substantially plane bearing face androunded edges leading into the wall faces of said tubes,

each of said substantially plane bearing faces of said closing capshaving two bores extending through said bearing faces and aligned withsaid two bores, respectively, of the other of said bearing faces,

a resilent means for connection of said base part with said upper part,

said resilient means in part including a flexible pulling membercomprising two leg portions extending through both pairs of said alignedbores, respectively, of both of said closing caps,

means for operatively connecting said two leg portions in each of saidparts, and

said resilient means further including a spring-like means between oneof said connecting means and the corresponding closing cap for acting onsaid flexible pulling member, thereby exerting a force bringing saidparts back into exact original alignment when released from an externaltilting and/or turning force.

2. The stake, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a projectionsitting on the inner side of said closing cap of at least one of saidparts and adapted to guide said other of said means for operativelyconnecting said two leg portions between said two bores of one of saidclosing caps.

3. The stake, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said other of said meansfor operatively connecting said two leg portions comprises a roundedclosed end portion of a flexible cable constituting a continuation ofsaid two leg portions and forming a substantially U-shaped flexiblepulling member.

4. The stake, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the other of saidconnecting means comprises a rounded closed end portion between said twoleg portions constituting a continuation of said two leg portions ofsaid flexible pulling member and disposed inside one of said partsthereby operatively connecting said two leg portions and forming asubstantially U-shaped flexible pulling member,

said spring-like means comprises a pressure spring disposed inside ofthe other of said parts,

one end of said pressure spring engaging the inside of saidcorresponding closing cap associated with said other of said parts,

said one of said connecting means of said two leg portions of saidflexible pulling member operatively engaged by the other end of saidpressure spring, and a projection sitting on the other side of saidclosing cap of said one of said parts and formed with a rounded channelmeans constituting a return guide to guide said rounded closed endportion of said flexible pulling member.

5. The stake, as set forth in claim 4, which includes a secondprojection sitting on the inner side of said closing cap of said otherof said parts, and

said pressure spring is helical and guided around said second projectionof said other of said parts.

6. The stake, as set forth in claim 4, wherein said one of saidconnecting means comprises a plate secured to said other of saidcorrespondnig ends of said two leg portions of said flexible member, 7

said other of said corresponding ends of said two leg portions securedto said plate spaced from each and aligned vertically above said twobores of said corresponding closing cap, whereby said two leg portionsof said flexible pulling member are parallel to each other, and

said pressure spring is helical and guided around said two leg portionsand presses against said plate at said other end of said pressurespring, said plate being adapted to retain said other end of saidpressure spring thereagainst.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,284,376 11/1918 Lehman 94--1.5

FOREIGN PATENTS 236,435 10/1964 Austria.

JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Primary Examiner.

